Starting on September 1, we will start having hybrid meetings. This means, those willing to meet in person are welcome to meet at Flaherty’s once again. Chairs will be physically distanced and masks required. Flaherty’s will provide individually-wrapped bagels and pastries as well as coffee, juice and water. We will continue with presenting the meetings via Zoom. Undoubtedly, there will be technical and other challenges as we move into this meeting format.
By the time you read this, you may already know the great news. The World Health Organization (WHO) on 25 August announced that transmission of the wild poliovirus has officially been stopped in all 47 countries of its African region. This is a historic and vital step toward global eradication of polio, which is Rotary’s top priority. After decades of hard won gains in the region, Rotary and its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative — WHO, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Gavi, the vaccine alliance — are proclaiming the milestone an achievement in public health. They offer it as proof that strong commitment, coordination, and perseverance can rid the world of polio. This great accomplishment happened due to your generous contributions the Rotary’s PolioPlus efforts.
In the annual Rotary calendar, September is Basic Education and Literacy Month. Rotary supports activities and training to improve education for all children and literacy for children and adults. The Rotary Foundation enables Rotarians to ensure that all people have sustainable access to basic education and literacy by: 1. Involving the community to support programs that strengthen the capacity of communities to provide basic education and literacy to all; 2. Increasing adult literacy in communities; 3. Working to reduce gender disparity in education; 4. Supporting studies for career-minded professionals related to basic education and literacy. What can we do to support these goals?
Our brief, two-week series featuring internal speakers on the subject of club membership, stimulated thought and conversation on this very important topic. Rotary in general, and our District and Club have all experienced more or less stagnant membership for a number of years. As I began trying to learn more, I found that membership is much larger and more complex subject than I had realized.
We have all been asked to invite friends and colleagues to join, and some have done that and continue to do it. “Thank you” to those who have brought new members into our club. I am one of those who was invited and responded, so I know that channel works and should continue to be encouraged and supported.
Gradually, however, it has become clear to me that there are many facets to the membership topic. Each of them touches on other aspects of club life, and each requires its own strategy if we are to be successful in growing our club.
For example, other than camaraderie, what are new members looking for in a service organization? How could our meeting schedule, format, dues structure, and overall club experience be tailored to make our club more attractive to new members?
What means, other than personal invitation, can we utilize to attract the attention of prospective members? What is our “marketing area?” Why doesn’t the Arden Hills – Shoreview club have more members from Arden Hills? What are we doing to attract residents of North Oaks or northwestern Vadnais Heights? Why, with large corporations located nearby, don’t we have multiple members from each? And what strategies could we employ to address these questions?
Looking beyond initial identification, what needs to be done to make visitors and prospective members feel more welcome from their first contact with us? How can the on-boarding process be made more meaningful and enjoyable? What kind of mentorship and guidance do new members need, and for how long? Do some members specialize in mentoring? How do we determine an area of service that will be appropriate to and rewarding for each new member? And what path will take a new member from participant to leader?
And oh yeah, who’s orchestrating all this?
There is no shortage of answers available from RI or the 5960 Membership Team. We can develop strategies to address every issue presented here and more. And when we do, I am convinced that our club will experience improved growth and prosperity.
Please watch for your opportunity to contribute to the development of our club’s membership strategy.
We had a few meetings to discuss what our focus should be on attracting members, etc. I showed a short video on 13 ways to kill your rotary. Mike Spellman is sharing his thoughts in this newsletter of opportunities we will have to engage all of us. I had another thought on sparking interest during an epidemic. Most of us have a Facebook account that we scroll through occasionally to see what others are doing or where they have been. I happen to love it when someone posts a great recipe or shows a picture of a unique trip they have been on. I would like to suggest something similar for our rotary newsletter. Send me a concert outdoors that you would recommend, a book that you couldn’t put down or an on-line lecture you watched that was interesting. When I returned from Florida and self quarantined for a bit, I decided to visit places in Minnesota I had not seen before.
This picture of sunflowers is from Treasure Haven Farms in Rush City, Minnesota. There are acres and acres of sunflowers and this has become a ‘thing’ to see. I will post some other interesting spots but please send me any place you have visited or any other interesting tidbits, etc.
Welcome to September, a five-meeting month of cooling temperatures and dynamic Rotary speakers.
On September 1, thanks to Colleen, we begin with a nod to nature, as Ramsey County Master Gardener, Brianna Gohde, delivers soothing words about the healing power of nature. Take good notes and map out your next year’s garden to maximize healthful benefits as well as beauty.
On Sept. 8, we turn to a more global perspective, as Glenn presents North St Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale Rotarian, Sylvia Allen, who tells us about the non-profit she founded and heads, called Sylvia’s Children. She will describe the phenomenal success of their charitable initiatives in Uganda on behalf of impoverished and often orphaned or abandoned children.
Sept. 15 gives us another view of heroic rescue efforts as Dave Newman introduces us to Angela Eifert, of Alight (formerly American Refugee Committee). Angela informs us of Alight’s programs assisting refugees in 12 countries around the world, including some of the most dangerous such as Somalia and Syria. Angela is a member of the Roseville Rotary Club and a past District Trainer.
On Sept. 22, thanks to Al Ramos, Allison Alstrin brings us back to the USA with the revealing story of the Minnesota Military and Veteran Exchange. Men and women from every military branch form a community bonded by their commitment to serve. Having served, however, these individuals often find themselves grappling with a vast array of unique circumstances, and MNME is there to help.
In our final meeting of September, Dave is again our host, as he brings us Brook Schaub, a true modern-day sleuth and his story about his own personal search for the final resting place of “the last true Tsar” of Russia, Grand Duke Mikhail Romanov.
Don’t miss any of these fascinating and inspiring speakers and their stories.
The schooling offered by Pushpa’s Sewing School in Amaravati, India has been shut down by the Covid-19 Pandemic. After ten of the first seventeen students at the Pushpa Sewing School finished the curriculum last February, the sewing school had had to close in view of Government mandates. Another cohort group of students had just joined the remaining students from the prior group and many of them were making steady progress toward completing the curriculum this summer, until a shelter in place order was issued throughout India in response to the Pandemic. It has disrupted everything in India except for the deeply rooted poverty that is so pervasive in the ghettos in the cities and in much of the rural areas. Amaravati has not been spared.
In a recent conversation with Gummadi Franklin, Pushpa’s founder and chair. Chairman Franklin was very positive about the school and the role he hopes it will continue to have in Amaravati, assuming the shelter in place order is eventually lifted. The school had come together very well and the landlord has generously minimized rental payments in view of what is hoped by all will be the temporary closure of the school. How well the school will be able to reorganized after the closure remains to be seen, but the elders in the community and the landlord want the school to remain. It has been welcomed in Amaravati.
A picture of the graduating class seated with their arms raised as they wait for their certificates is shown below. What happened here in the U.S. also happened in India. The Covid-19 Pandemic disrupted the entire country and has caused Pushpa to suspend its classes.
Two of the graduating students are picture below, one, who was chosen to speak to the gathering at the graduation ceremony and another who is receiving her certificate from Chairman Franklin. Also with the students and Chairman Franklin is the Teacher (Suzanne) and a teaching assistant.
Pushpa's mission is to help marginalized community members of rural Guntur District villages transition from migrant, subsistent lifestyles, dependent on seasonal labor and temporary shelter, to sustainable livelihoods in healthy communities. Its main goal is to work together with underprivileged (tribal) members of rural Guntur District villages to find ways to enable socio-economic change in small ways, one person, one family, one student, at a time, through projects in which the recipients themselves participate. (See http://pushpaproject.org/vision_mission.htm)
One of the elders in Amaravati is pictured below after he was given the honor of cutting the green ribbon in a ceremony for the opening of the school last May.
A lot of hard work went into establishing the school and there are many people to thank for their hard work and significant contributions. The Sewing School has now graduated its first class and it is especially gratifying to see that the labor and hard work is now being rewarded and that young people’s lives in Amaravati are being touched by those efforts. We are now awaiting further word as to further progress of the current students once the shelter in place directives in India are lifted. Pushpa will be there to restart the teaching when that happens.
The leaders of PUSHPA, both here in Arden Hills and in Andhra Pradesh, India are especially grateful for the support for the new sewing school from the Arden Hills Shoreview Rotary Club and Rotary District 5960 and have expressed their gratitude privately and acknowledged the Club’s sponsorship of the school by erecting the sign shown in the picture below.
We and Pushpa are thankful for the matching grant received from Rotary District 5960 and to the following Rotary Clubs for their generous support of our project: Belle Plain; Brooklyn Center; Forrest Lake; Fridley Columbia Heights; New Brighton Mounds View; Prior Lake; Roseville; St. Croix Falls; St. Paul No. 10; Siren Webster; West St. Paul Mendota Heights; and White Bear Lake.
Update on Suburban Ramsey Emergency Coalition – August 28
In mid-March, when the pandemic stopped “life-as-we-knew-it”, the Suburban Ramsey Emergency Coalition was formed to enable 13 service clubs (Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis and Optimists) and 2 community foundations in our North Suburban communities to raise funds and volunteer while there are huge needs and most club fundraising and normal community service work is suspended. Here are current highlights:
• Overall fundraising has reached $107,402 as of August 27 and New Brighton Lions will present an additional$5,000 check on Tuesday night, September 1. We are well on our way to the goal of $150,000 by December 31. Thank you to our Arden Hills/Shoreview Rotary Club for donating $2,100, a Rotary District grant of $2,800 that our club participated in, and many generous individual donations from our club members. The Coalition is totally volunteer administered and fiscal management by the St. Paul and Minnesota Foundation is at zero percent during this pandemic. Total expenses so far are: $0. Go to https://www.suburbanramseycoalition.org/thank-you for the list of donors.
• Ninegrants totaling $55,000 have been awarded to local nonprofit service providers of food or housing assistance for our neighbors affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those grants were: $5,000 to Community Support Center; $5,000 to Keystone Community Services; $5,000 to Neighborhood House; $5,000 to Quincy House, $10,000 to Ralph Reeder Food Shelf, $10,000 to The Sheridan Story, $5,000 to Community Partners with Youth, $5,000 Aeonand $5,000 to YMCA. Three more grant applications for $5,000 each pending. And a recent $20,000 grant from the Minnesota Disaster Recovery Fund will enable us to move to start awarding grants for essential services by local nonprofit providers in addition to food and housing assistance. For the details of these awards go to: https://www.suburbanramseycoalition.org/grants-awarded
• During May and June over 70 volunteers, including delivery people, fabric cutters and people who sewed, created 200 cloth isolation gowns for the grateful staff of Ramsey County Care Center. At least 16 of those volunteers were members, spouses and friends from our Club. The Care Center had not been able to purchase disposable gowns and there were no cloth gowns available to purchase. For more on this go to: https://www.suburbanramseycoalition.org/our-volunteers and more on Volunteer page.
• Stepping Up for our Community Virtual Run/Walk was completed in August with 157 registered participants. Financial event summary was: $2,140 from registration, $5,703 from donations, $7,100 from 10 sponsors, for a total of $14,943. Once again, members of our Club “stepped up” as leaders, registrants and donors. HUGE THANK YOU TO KEN HOLA FOR CHAIRING AND OPERATING THIS EVENT!!!
• Coming up next will be a Collector Car Raffle in partnership with CLIMB Theater that is the #2 charitable gambling operator in Minnesota. Ticket sales will be by CLIMB’s 17 gambling sites, including The Mermaid in Mounds View and Bent Brewstillery in Roseville, as well as the 15 member organizations of the Coalition. There will be a limit of 1000 tickets at $25 each. The top prize will be a 1973 Ford Mustang Convertible, second prize is $500 cash and more prizes! The drawing will be at The Mermaid on “Give to the Max Day”, November 17.
• During September and October, the Coalition will partner with Visit Roseville on aBike/Drive of Roseville-in-Bloom, 20 rose statutes painted by local professional artists. In-kind sponsorship is being sought from local hospitality and business venues that have been heavily affected by the COVID pandemic. We will use the combined network of businesses, the Coalition organizations and Visit Roseville (the Roseville Visitor’s Association) to provide incentives for the public to bike and drive to the 20 locations this fall and, while they are on the website, we will ask for donations to the Coalition.
Low revenue but high exposure!
• Visit our Facebook Page often. “Like” it, “Follow” us, and invite your Friends to do the same at https://www.facebook.com/SuburbanRamseyCoalition/ . “Share” generously with others.
• To donate, go to: https://www.suburbanramseycoalition.org/donate
The Coalition is a unique collaboration with unique opportunities to help those truly in need of our help. Helen Keller’s quote continues to be true: “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
Mike Spellman arranged to have Hyon Kim speak to our club today. Hyon is a member of the Roseville Rotary club and owner of an engineering firm with her two sons. She has written a book in Korean about the history of her life and the historical events leading up to the Korean War. Her family was ripped apart during the war. When war broke out in 1950, her father joined the Communist Party and 4-year old Hyon was sent to live with an aunt in the south of Korea. Her early years were very difficult, filled with poverty and loneliness. School mates jeered her because of her father's communist affiliation. At 17 she joined the military. She married a Minnesotan in 1970 while working for the U.S. military in Seoul in 1970, relocated here, and became a U.S. citizen in 1974. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Minnesota, served as a member of a council on Asian Minnesotans set up by former Gov. Rudy Perpich and was the first Asian American to serve on the U of M's Board of Regents. Hyon's book, entitled "Her Name is Maria", tells the harrowing details of the Korean war, which many younger Koreans don't fully appreciate. 80% of the country was destroyed and 4.8 million Korean citizens were killed. She expresses gratitude for the American troops who fought for a free Korea. She recounts this powerful history and her own harrowing personal story - I look forward to reading her book when it comes out in English in 2021.
Today's presenter was our own John Suzukida who spoke on the topic of club membership. Maintaining and growing membership is a near universal issue for Rotary and probably all service clubs in today's world. Our own club has given it much thought over the years and tried various recruiting methods. John recounted that, about 5 years ago we decided to put our focus on what we could do as a club to become more attractive to potential members. We decided to focus on becoming more involved in community activities, taking on more projects and having more fun both within and outside of our weekly meetings. This strategy has paid dividends in that we have gone from a low of about 23 members to a current roster of 34. And our new members have been excellent additions, getting quickly involved in club activities. He noted that we have continued to be active through the pandemic, thanks to past president Bill Klumpp acting quickly to set up regular virtual meetings and occasional happy hours through Zoom technology. In terms of where we go from here, John suggested we need to first decide what problem we are trying to solve. Most would agree we should work to add more diversity, including age diversity. We may need to consider alternative meeting times. And we should be cognizant of even minor things such as avoiding jokes and stories that don't resonate with the under-60 crowd. He suggested that, when talking with others about Rotary, we focus on the global reach that Rotary has, which is a strong selling point. Our success with polio eradication around the world is something we can all be very proud of. Our club has a long history of bringing in great outside speakers covering a very broad range of topics. We must continue this as it is another great source of interest to current and future members. When, at long last, we are able to meet again in person, John also encouraged everyone to proactively reach out to visitors to quickly make them feel welcome within the group.
Our speaker today was Ramsey County Commissioner Nicole Frethem. Nicole resides in Shoreview with her husband and two children. She joined the County Board last year as the result of a special election required when previous commissioner Blake Huffman stepped down mid-term. She had previously worked as a policy specialist in the MN Department of Human Services and is currently also pursuing a law degree on a part-time basis. She brings some age diversity to the group of 7 commissioners, being the only "millenial" in the group. She noted that the Board's plans for 2020 have been hugely impacted by the Corona virus pandemic. She believes the Board acted wisely at the start, assuming that new plans had to be made for the long haul, not just for a few weeks. They have tried to re-deploy rather than furlough staff members and have created teams to address the myriad of issues both current and yet-to-come. An example of the latter is planning for increased homelessness as more residents become evicted from their homes. The upcoming months will be focused on preparing a new budget reflecting the current realities. She noted that the County had maintained a top bond rating in recent years and therefore is better prepared than some to handle the economic fallout of the pandemic.
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Mike Spellman arranged to have Hyon Kim speak to our club today. Hyon is a member of the Roseville Rotary club and owner of an engineering firm with her two sons. She has written a book in Korean about the history of her life and the historical events leading up to the Korean War. Her family was ripped apart during the war. When war broke out in 1950, her father joined the Communist Party and 4-year old Hyon was sent to live with an aunt in the south of Korea. Her early years were very difficult, filled with poverty and loneliness. School mates jeered her because of her father's communist affiliation. At 17 she joined the military. She married a Minnesotan in 1970 while working for the U.S. military in Seoul in 1970, relocated here, and became a U.S. citizen in 1974. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Minnesota, served as a member of a council on Asian Minnesotans set up by former Gov. Rudy Perpich and was the first Asian American to serve on the U of M's Board of Regents. Hyon's book, entitled "Her Name is Maria", tells the harrowing details of the Korean war, which many younger Koreans don't fully appreciate. 80% of the country was destroyed and 4.8 million Korean citizens were killed. She expresses gratitude for the American troops who fought for a free Korea. She recounts this powerful history and her own harrowing personal story - I look forward to reading her book when it comes out in English in 2021. 
Today's presenter was our own John Suzukida who spoke on the topic of club membership. Maintaining and growing membership is a near universal issue for Rotary and probably all service clubs in today's world. Our own club has given it much thought over the years and tried various recruiting methods. John recounted that, about 5 years ago we decided to put our focus on what we could do as a club to become more attractive to potential members. We decided to focus on becoming more involved in community activities, taking on more projects and having more fun both within and outside of our weekly meetings. This strategy has paid dividends in that we have gone from a low of about 23 members to a current roster of 34. And our new members have been excellent additions, getting quickly involved in club activities. He noted that we have continued to be active through the pandemic, thanks to past president Bill Klumpp acting quickly to set up regular virtual meetings and occasional happy hours through Zoom technology. In terms of where we go from here, John suggested we need to first decide what problem we are trying to solve. Most would agree we should work to add more diversity, including age diversity. We may need to consider alternative meeting times. And we should be cognizant of even minor things such as avoiding jokes and stories that don't resonate with the under-60 crowd. He suggested that, when talking with others about Rotary, we focus on the global reach that Rotary has, which is a strong selling point. Our success with polio eradication around the world is something we can all be very proud of. Our club has a long history of bringing in great outside speakers covering a very broad range of topics. We must continue this as it is another great source of interest to current and future members. When, at long last, we are able to meet again in person, John also encouraged everyone to proactively reach out to visitors to quickly make them feel welcome within the group.
Our speaker today was Ramsey County Commissioner Nicole Frethem. Nicole resides in Shoreview with her husband and two children. She joined the County Board last year as the result of a special election required when previous commissioner Blake Huffman stepped down mid-term. She had previously worked as a policy specialist in the MN Department of Human Services and is currently also pursuing a law degree on a part-time basis. She brings some age diversity to the group of 7 commissioners, being the only "millenial" in the group. She noted that the Board's plans for 2020 have been hugely impacted by the Corona virus pandemic. She believes the Board acted wisely at the start, assuming that new plans had to be made for the long haul, not just for a few weeks. They have tried to re-deploy rather than furlough staff members and have created teams to address the myriad of issues both current and yet-to-come. An example of the latter is planning for increased homelessness as more residents become evicted from their homes. The upcoming months will be focused on preparing a new budget reflecting the current realities. She noted that the County had maintained a top bond rating in recent years and therefore is better prepared than some to handle the economic fallout of the pandemic.